When life hands you strawberries that are a little bit past their prime…make berry muffins!

In addition to my oven that doesn’t open, I have a refrigerator that’s just a little too small. It’s a standard, apartment-sized appliance but it’s also deeper than it is wide and just in general, difficult to store things. I often have to pile stuff on top of each other or stick smaller items behind large, unwieldy tupperware containers and the like.

As a result, important things like strawberries get caught behind loaves of bread and stacks of yogurts. Recently, I was rummaging through my misshapen fridge and  I found a container of strawberries, just past ripe, perfect candidates to mash with a fork and fold into a perfect muffin batter.

I had some extra blueberries on hand from the whole-wheat blueberry muffins I baked recently and what could be a better marriage than juicy blueberries and sweet strawberries? Only a muffin bursting with both.

Berry Smash Muffins
Makes 8 large or 12 mini-muffins

What you need:

1 2/3 cup fresh strawberries and blueberries
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

What you do:

1. Heat oven to 425 degrees F. Prepare a muffin tin with paper liners or grease with butter or spray oil.

2. In a large bowl, smash with a fork the fresh berries. Add in the sugar, oil and eggs and combine. Add in the remaining ingredients until batter is completely moistened. Do not over mix.

2. Fill greased muffin tins about 3/4 with batter. Bake for 15 minutes or until muffins begin to brown around the edges and the centers spring back when touched.

Tagged as: baked goods, berry, berry muffins, blueberry muffins, muffin recipe, strawberry muffins